Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 14:52:38 -0400
From: "Paul Foster" <pfoster@gdi.net>
Subject: Re: Ayers Roll Hold the Mayo
>>...This was a very fast section where the driver had
to navigate a very tight corner.
No - a very precise gate and offset. And please remember that not all drivers
are created equal - we all learn and perform according to God's gifts to us.
Hopefully, it is by mere seat time alone, and not by a series of chance
happenings with "perhaps" a bit of youthful indiscretion in one's application
of tires, parts, or steering input. (Note to Mr. Brockman - please don't take
that too personally. I just call the shots as I saw them. And to your credit
- your explanation and calm reaction to the roll was pretty' damn straight up
and mature, IMHO.) The understanding of a cars physics and reactions of some
turns or corners require us to call upon skills we just may NOT have, at that
particular point of time in our lives.
>>Furthermore, the car ended up close
to another car and in the proximity of the timing trailer.
My car was close to the Tracer (maybe 10 or so car lengths; I was in DS) and
my house was in the proximity of the timing trailer (40 miles). And two
innocent people were murdered in a carjacking in Providence that day.
Sometimes things happen that we do not want, or like, to happen. But the fact
remains is that the safety zone worked, the car did NOT hit the van, did NOT
hit another car, and did NOT fly into the grid. Over 200 of us walked the
course before hand, and the majority of us knew that was going to be a
technically demanding course that required all our skills. Josh somewhat
alluded to that in his post. He was unprepared for it. I heard of no safety
issues beforehand, and believe me, there are a few competitors out there that
would have voiced it should it have played on their mind, AT THE TIME. A
car rolled, the stewards reviewed the design, and made a minor change. THE
SYSTEM WORKS. I am not saying it's perfect.
>>Now there are lots of people who state that not every condition can be
considered, but this sure sounds like a situation which could have
been avoided.
I disagree somewhat. The only way to avoid any situation in Solo2 is NOT to
have a Solo2. Having a full throttle turn aimed at a timing trailer can be
avoided. I see Josh's roll as a driver error issue, albeit maybe to the
extreme limit of "testing" the safety procedures.
>> If you are going to have high speed sections they should be
in the back away from such hard obstacles with a great deal of runoff.
And they should give the driver some leeway to recover from mistakes
without having to worry about hitting something or someone. In this
case it didn't appear to be the case.
Paul, I agree w/ you somewhat - however - "great deal of runoff" is a
misnomer. I'd hate to start asking for a definition of that. Of late, we
Americans seem to be reducing ourselves to a series of knee-jerk reactions to
everything in front of us. Sure I'd love to have a quarter mile around every
offset for a runoff - but lets "think" realistically and sensibly. Maybe the
more pragmatic answer you search for is to require drivers in National events
to have x number of events under their belts, or with regional or Evolution
schools, or ban Tracers, or Hoosiers? Heck, I don't have the answer you want
us to have. Point is, some driving situations one encounters may simply be
made better by NOT trying to recover. I think if Josh had not tried to
re-correct after his first correction, he may have simple looped to a clean
stop. (Armchair quarterback of the day, but I did see it.)
>>And I simply do not buy the bad shocks theory. That is no excuse,
particularly with only 60K miles on a stock car.
Gee, I once had wishy ones at 30k on my Trans Am....but it is NO excuse for
keeping them on. Yes, he should have had reliable parts.
>>It sounds more like the car was going too fast for the driver to properly
react in a safe
manner.
Nope - the "driver" was driving the car going too fast for him to
react....see Mr. Brockmans post again.
>>This sport is all about relative newcomers strapping on a set
of sticky tires to their stock daily driver and having fun without the
immediate concern of trashing their car. I really hate to see that
change because I believe it is the greatest thing about autocrossing.
I agree somewhat (can we agree to disagree on others?) I think our regions
drivers (past novice stage) are pretty good at trying to instill a sense of
respect and responsibility for the car AND the sport into the newcomers. My
Novice Co-chair and I talk with many newcomers. Not all want to listen, not
all fully understand. We are available to all, but there is an onus of
responsibility on the newbies too. Yes, some novices want to learn, some
want to just "race." And some newcomers will take longer to develop the
good skills to make them "instinctive." But we try to be as reachable for
any help as humanly (and still allow car prep time for ourselves) as
possible. Team.net is great, but do you know the email addresses of your
regional chiefs? If not, maybe it's time to check out your regions website
and start a discussion with those who "work behind the scene."
>>This is not a professional sport where incidents can be shrugged off.
This is a sport where there should never be an injury. This is a sport
where there should never be a rollover of a stock car owned by a
relatively poor student. ....
I totally agree, so I take it you are going to get your safety stewards
license to help us out....
Paul, my apologies to you if this all seems a bit harsh, but I like this
sport. That's why I chose to devote my time and give some of it back. I try
to use my mind, NOT my emotions, to solve problems.
Eddie Savage
#91 DS
1998 Plymouth Neon ACR sedan
2000 NER/SCCA Novice Committee Co-Chair
1999 NER/SCCA Class Champion
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